


Birthmarks

by longwayfromhome



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Birthmarks, Fluff, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-23
Updated: 2014-04-23
Packaged: 2018-01-20 11:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1508981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longwayfromhome/pseuds/longwayfromhome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a spot on the skin of the inside his right wrist that has never faded.  -- AU: everyone is born with their soulmate’s name/initials tattooed on their wrist like a birthmark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthmarks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jouissant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jouissant/gifts), [satismagic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/satismagic/gifts).



> Cross-posted and edited from Tumblr, and inspired from a post from said website (which I would link to if I knew how to here). For Jouissant and Juno, who are always cheering me on.

Chris had been a freckly kid since he was young. Arms, back, shoulders and cheeks had been full of constantly changing, connect-the-dots, light brown freckles. His mother had tickled him and made constellations out of them and it had made him laugh and laugh and _laugh_ when he was a toddler. It was one of those things that had made him, well, him. Blue eyes, golden hair and freckly skin. They tended to fade during the winter, only to come back full force during the baseball season as Chris spent hours and hours under the sun. As he grew older, though, in between the freckles and the glasses and the acne on his face, he had felt the need to cover himself up. Most of them had ended up fading as Chris spent his time inside, nose stuck in a book, instead of outside in the field, and Chris couldn't have felt more glad about it.

There is a spot on the skin of the inside his right wrist that has never faded or changed, however.

He had had it there since he could remember. Light brown in color, it had always stood out against his tanned skin and strangely enough, it looked similar to a letter ‘ **Z** ’. As a kid he’d always been rubbing his fingers against the birthmark, tracing over it’s unusual shape. As he grew, the fingers of his other hand always seemed to migrate to the area when he was feeling sad or uncomfortable, as it was a gesture that made him feel comforted.

He knew some people had these marks, but he’d never seen one that so clearly resembled a letter like his did. He’d thought it would disappear over time, like Katie’s had, but instead of the barely-there marks his classmates had on the inside of their right wrists, his remained stubbornly dark. Others looked at his mark with interest, some going as far as trying to touch it, but when they tried to do so Chris felt inexplicably chilled to the bone. He took to covering the mark with a thick leather bracelet during the day and only uncovered it when he was around people that knew better than to gape at it.

He understood some people couldn't help their curiosity because Chris had also heard the stories. The birthmark was supposed to lead him to his soulmate, to his other half, a person that would have one to complete his own, but he’d never believed that. He wasn't experienced by any means, but Chris had always been drawn to _people_. As he’d grown out of his shell he’d found himself to be attracted to all kinds of women and men, some with birthmarks and some without them. He knew his parents--who were his closest example of a stable, happy relationship--hadn't met through a mark. In fact, neither of them carried one on their skin, and Chris had always thought that this would be the way it would work out for him too.

His birthmark was just an oddity, and more often now than not, he forgot about it, covering up mostly just so others wouldn't try to touch it.

He meets Zach straight out of Berkeley--two aspiring actors working at that awful bakery in Santa Monica. Chris works the till, while Zach works back in the kitchen helping prepare the dough. They had hit it off since the beginning, shy at first but joking around with each other later, when the bakery is empty after the morning rush. They start hanging out with each other after work as well, some times quietly speaking and other times helping each other prepare for auditions. They find that they have many things in common, and flirting playfully becomes second nature to them.

Chris starts to feel comfortable enough around Zach to remove the leather band on his wrist after some time. The first time he does so, he’s helping Zach bathe Noah in the bathtub of his small apartment. Zach had been talking about getting a dog for a long time now and he’d finally done so last weekend, and they were now trying to give him a bath. The pup had cheerfully tried to play with them instead, leading to all three them being drenched from head to toe.

Still laughing and joking about how they would probably have to play the bad cop, good cop routine to get the new puppy to behave, they manage to make him settle down in the living room corner. Chris reaches for the soaking wet bracelets covering his wrists, unfastening them without thinking about it and placing them on kitchen counter. Zach looks at his fingers curiously, and then his gaze switches to observe the uncovered skin under the band. Chris stares at him, waiting for some kind of reaction, but instead he watches as Zach cocks his head thoughtfully, eyes still riveted on his birthmark for a few more seconds, slow smile spreading on his lips. He then turns his back to Chris, reaching to remove his drenched shirt and bent to scratch behind Noah's ears. Chris had been distracted by all the newly revealed skin, and Zach had never never mentioned it after, so that had been that.

From then on, Chris mostly keeps his wrists uncovered around him. He sometimes looks up to catch Zach looking curiously down to his hands, but he has never made any move to speak about it, or to touch it, so Chris lets him be. His own curiosity had been awakened though, and he started trying to get a glimpse at Zach’s right wrist. When he is finally able to see it, he tries to tell himself that he’s not feeling disappointed at having encountered only pale, unblemished skin there.

He starts noticing other things about Zach as well. The way his eyebrows furrow when he’s concentrating on a new recipe at the bakery. How he can’t help but rake his hands nervously when he’s about to go in and try for a part. How he bites his lips when he’s engrossed in a book. The way he doesn't hesitate tease Chris about his clumsiness or the disaster that his attempts at the till end up being.

Chris has never been so attracted to someone, but he’s also never been so _close_ to a particular person, and he doesn't want to mess this up.

It isn't until months later, one night late at the bakery near to closing time that he notices. Chris is sitting in the kitchen waiting for Zach to be done so that they can leave and crash on his couch and watch movies, while Zach is at the sink, washing the last of the flour from his hands. When he reaches over for a dishtowel to dry his hands, Chris catches a flash of something on the inside of Zach’s left wrist.

Feeling bold, Chris pulls Zach’s arm towards him, turning his hand palm up so that he can look at the mark. There, a few shades darker than Zach’s pale skin is a perfectly formed ‘ **C** ’.

Chris reaches and uncovers his own wrist, placing it so that his own ‘ **Z** ' mark is next to Zach's. He raises his eyes to look confusedly at the other man, heart feeling like it's going to beat out of his chest.

"What? You've always known that I’m left handed," Zach says amused. Chris now realizes that he'd been playing catch up.

"Why didn't you say something?" He caresses the skin on Zach’s wrist around the mark, but he doesn't dare touch it--yet.

"Chris, mark or no mark, I was— _am_ attracted to you. I wanted you to understand that. This…” Zach reaches with his right index finger to trace down the shape of Chris’s birthmark, and Chris feels it tingle warmly, making him shudder, “is just a lucky coincidence.” He smiles.

Chris’s mouth curls in response and he pulls Zach closer to him, joining their lips in a soft, first kiss.


End file.
